Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust's chief executive, Diane Wake, said in a statement: "The Trust can confirm that a patient in their 70s being treated for underlying health conditions has died. The patient had tested positive for Covid-19."

Prof. Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England and the Government's Chief Medical Advisor, said: "I am sorry to confirm a seventh and eighth patient in England who tested positive for COVID-19 have sadly died. I offer my sincere condolences to their families and friends and ask that their privacy is respected."

On Wednesday, the number of cases of the flu-like bug in the UK had risen to 460, according to the BBC.

And the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now officially labelled the outbreak a pandemic.

The WHO is now calling coronavirus a pandemic (Credit: SplashNews.com)

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of coronavirus cases identified outside of China - the epicentre of the virus - had increased 13-fold in just two weeks.

Admitting he was "deeply concerned" at the "alarming levels of inaction", Dr Tedros called on governments around the world to take "urgent and aggressive action" as he said: "Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled.

Dr Tedros called on governments to take "urgent and aggressive action" (Credit: SplashNews.com)